“5 Side Hustle Ideas That Worked For Me”

September 19, 2018
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Selling Vintage Clothing

Ask anyone I went to high school with, I have always had a knack for thrift shopping and vintage clothing. In my late teens, I was out almost every night from Thursday – Sunday! And I hardly ever wore the same thing twice. I used to do big hauls at our local op shops and find things I could mix and match and get a tone of wear from. Some items just costing around $2-$5.

I also used to sell a lot of the clothes if they were brand name or had vintage value! I once sold a vintage hot pink pencil skirt from Cue for $350 on eBay. It was A-MAZZZZZING and I kind if wish I actually kept it lol.

I was really good at making good money from it to. I had a mannequin, I did my research on what sold and what didn’t and how to sell it. I have actually got a few tips in a previous blog on how you can sell online here.

But for the time I was in school & uni, it worked a treat! I still to this day sell a lot of my designer items, rather than let them go to waste.

A Beauty Service

When I moved to regional Victoria, I was still studying and finding a job local was hard work. At least one that would give me the hours I needed. So I started my own spray tanning business from home.

I took a course, which was like a 4 hour thing to get a certificate so I at least said I’d done it (you don’t really need it, it’s so easy just Google how to do it).

I only charged $20 as it was obviously just out of my spare room, and of course wanted to attract business (some salons charge up to $40-50). But of course with a lower price, sometimes comes annoying people just to warn you!

I listed the business in the Yellow Pages and all other online classified sites. I created social pages on Facebook & Instagram and also got my friends to share the word. Making yourself as visible as possible online is your best best. That way when someone Google searches “Spray Tan in X Town” you are the first to come up.

I have some girlfriends who have all been successful starting Lash Extension and nail bar businesses, I believe these are short courses you can do.

Letter/Catalogue Drops

So I actually found this one by accident when I first had Annabelle, and it was absolutely perfect for a new mum. A friend worked in real estate and wanted to drop her flyers she mentioned in passing. I asked how much and she said it was a set fee (can’t remember off the top of my head) per # dropped.

Basically I made a couple of hundred by walking around with my baby asleep in the pram, something I spent all day every day doing anyway!!

There are a lot of these jobs available on Gumtree, AirTasker and even some services you can sign up to!

Selling At A Markets

Markets are great, especially for mums, because they are every so often. I’ve sold both clothing, but also products like candles – every person goes mad for a candle at a market right? But if you’ve got a crafty product and you market it well then you can do SUPER well at markets!

The draw back is you do need to have a good setup, invest in your branding etc to really stand out from the rest so if you think it might be something you’d get over quick then maybe don’t waste the money. Or stick to second hand markets where that stuff doesn’t matter as much!

Blogging

And now for the obvious one. Blogging was such a successful little side hustle for me that it became my full-time job! A combination of all the things I love and my technical skills, my blog began as a passion project when I was on maternity leave.

I had already started and run a successful fashion blog for Country Racing Victoria, so I knew the logistics of running one.

I won’t lie, it wasn’t without a long period of nobody reading it, and it’s taken a lot of hard work to get it to where it is. But I absolutely love it, and whether it was making me money or not I think I’d still have it because I love the creative outlet to be able to share my words and images!

There is so many tips and tricks I feel I can share on this one that I will save it for another blog – stay tuned!

Things I don’t recommend: I did a stint of “promo work” when I was in my early 20’s. The poor half naked girls handing out shit in night clubs, being sleezed on by bad smelling men. Or the poor girls trying to hand you a flyer at Flinders Street Station? That was me! I did it for a couple of companies, every single time it took a fight to get paid and they all ended up going under.

Also, Pyramid schemes that expect you to outlay huge bundles of crap and then flog it to your friends. I won’t name any out of fear of pissing of said friends haha but you know what I mean. I’ve seen a lot of these fail, and people be stuck with items and products they cannot sell. Just make sure you do your research going into it!